Panorama Volume XX (Issue No. 4) April 1968

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Title: Panorama Volume XX (Issue No. 4) April 1968
Issue Date: Volume XX (Issue No. 4) April 1968
Year: 1968
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extracted text: Mji, fcHou 'Jdtfi.Mi: PANORAMA needs intelligent readers of: 1. Informative materials 2. Interesting ideas 3. Enlightening opinions 4. Broadening views 5. Controversial thoughts 6. Critical comments 7. Idealistic suggestions 8. Humorous remarks 9. Serious statements 10. Meditations on life and work. All these are either original productions or selective adap tions and condensations from Philippine and foreign publica tions. Usually brief and compact, lasting from two to ten minutes to read, each article offers a rewarding experience in one’s moments of leisure. Relax with Panorama. We say this to the busy student and the teacher, the lawyer and the physician, the dentist and the engineer, the executive and the farmer, the politician and the preacher, the employer and the employee. PANORAMA is specially designed for Filipinos — young, middle-aged, and old, male and female, housekeeper and houselizard. Special rates on November 1, for new and renewal 1966: subscriptions to begin 1 copy ..................................... 1 year ..................................... 2 years .................................... Foreign rate: .......................... 50 centavos P5.00 P9.00 $3.00 (U. S.) For one year’s subscription of 5 pesos, a person receives the equivalent of 12 compact pocketbooks of lasting value and and varied interest. COMMUNITY PUBLISHERS, INC. Inverness, (M. Carreon) St., Sta. Ana, Manila, Philippines Vol. XX TMI PNIUPPIM MAGAZINE Of SOOD BEADING Entered as second class mail matter at the Manila Post Office on Dec. 7, 1955 MANILA, PHILIPPINES No. 4 FOR A LIFE-LONG EDUCATION We have come together this morning to celebrate in some formal way the event we have designated as the tran sition. The idea is not new to some people, but the cere monial to emphasize its significance is necessary and under the present conditions in our country, pressing and urgent. It is intended to dispel the old and common notion of a farewell to a finished record of intellectual activity that need not be revived. It is precisely meant to remove from our minds the thought that the acquisition of knowledge has an ending and in its place to instill in us a stronger and deeper consciousness of the value of the eternal search for truth., The feeling of academic self-satisfaction, mental fulness, and spiritual smugness many graduates have on receiving their diplomas or degrees should be discouraged and re pressed, otherwise the incentive and motivation to self-im provement may be reduced and even smothered; and the degeneration of the human mind and spirit is likely to follow. Thinking men and women working and living in pro gressive countries all over the world are now fully convinced that man’s need for learning is not unlike his need and thirst for water. The thirst is unquenchable as long as he lives. The desire and urge for knowledge cannot be measured and satisfied by such mechanical means and arbitrary terms as the passage of a number of years to be spent in a school or the number of books one has to read in college. — V. G. Sinco, April, 1968. NATIONAL INTEGRATION OF ADULT EDUCATION The work of improving the rate of literacy should be the introductory part of adult education in the broad sense of this concept. This is so because teaching an adult how to read and write should not be a terminal course but the first step in teaching him subjects necessary for his work as a responsible indivi dual, a better bread winner, and an intelligent citizen. The scheme to advance literacy may thus cover the plan1 of improving the educa tion of adults. It is, of course, true that the two activities may be undertaken separate ly by two different groups of teachers. That may be an uneconomical procedure; but it is necessary for in the higher stages of adult educa tion, those who are to take charge of the work it involves require a different and highly advanced educational qualifi cations. The program of action for literacy naturally begins with the teaching of people who have not been to school to learn how to read and write. Once this is accomplished, the next step is adult educa tion proper. This is but the logical thing to do for educa tion is the purpose of literacy. Adult education may also be reasonably classified as extension education or conti nuation education. These two terms are, of course, broader in scope and are usually intended to mean col lege or professional studies offered and pursued outside the classrooms of the college. It may be done through cor respondence or through spe cial meetings between a teacher and people who de sire to improve the knowledge they acquired during their student days. 2 Panorama The concern of adult edu cation, on the other hand, is the training of people of 18 years old and older in things which they need for intelli gent, practical living. While the emphasis is vocational or occupational, it should be broad enough to include the fundamental problems affect ing the economic needs, the health needs, the civic needs, and the recreational needs of a person. The goal is the development of conscious citizenship in a democracy. But this group is even more fortunate than the thousands of children who have never had a chance of attending school at all. In adult life all of them need training for useful citizenship. They form a large portion of the entire population. To neglect .their education is as harmful to public welfare as to neglect the education of children. Hence, adult education is of supreme importance to the country. To establish and maintain a democratic government and society is an extremely diffi cult undertaking. Its require ments are not simple or easy to practice. A democratic government is a delicate and complicated instrument. It could serve its purpose only when it is employed by those who know how to use it. That is why the people, as a whole, have to be well prepared through proper education be fore a real and working de mocracy in their government and society could come to life with all its advantages to the people themselves. The cru cial problem is, therefore, that of teaching the people how to act as masters of them selves and as builders of their own destiny. The framers of the Consti tution of our country had the right idea when they express ly included in that basic instrument the last five words in the following provision: “The Government shall es tablish and maintain a com plete and adequate system of public education, and shall provide at least free public primary instruction and citi zenship training to adult ci tizens.” It is clear that adult education is here given as much emphasis as free public primary education. Both pri April 1968 3 mary instruction and adult education are given priority in the organization and main tenance of the educational system to be supported by the Government. One is as im portant as the other; and it is so understood and declared in our Constitution.' But our Government so far has failed to comply adequately with 1 this constitutional mandate. The reason might be more oversight; but it could be a lack of appreciation of the value and importance given to it by our Constitution. We have been doing as much as we think possible the work of organizing primary schools. The bulk of the Government educational budget is devoted to this purpose. We have even gone to the extent of opening secondary schools, nationalizing these institutions without paying enough atten tion to adult education. Col leges and universities have been established in the form of public and private institu tions. They are not necessary in many cases. Oftentimes they are largely intended to add personal glory and pre stige to their political found ers. But the primary duty of giving adult education has re ceived but scant notice and care. Whatever attempts at im plementation this constitu tional provision has received so far is pitifully inadequate. In fact, the nature and con cept of adult education do not seem to be very widely understood and appreciated. This is not entirely the fault of the few men who are sup posed to take charge of this work. The fault largely lies in the failure of our Govern ment to provide sufficient funds for this particular ob ligation imposed upon it by the Constitution. And yet the Government could set aside funds for activities which are considered neither essential under our Constitu tion nor desirable by thinking men and women in our coun try. To cite one glaring example: The Government at one time, not long ago, has appropriated the huge amount of 100 million pesos for the so-called Emergency Employment Administration. Instead of throwing away large sums for these and like 4 Panorama purposes which are not in dispensable to the social, po litical, educational, and eco nomic growth and strength of our country, the Government would be fulfilling its obli gation to strengthen our de mocratic institutions if it should instead devote such enormous sums to the estab lishment of an effective sys tem of adult education for ci tizenship training. It is a well-known fact that thousands are not able to con tinue schooling beyond the primary or intermediate grades. And there are thou sands, too, who do not finish even a mere 4-year primary education. They are classi fied as dropouts. But even they should finish the elem entary school courses, they still need more education for good citizenship. Experience shows that elementary educa tion alone is an inadequate preparation for life in a de mocratic society. It could perhaps help in eliminating simple illiteracy. It may give the child some acquaintance with elementary» science, arithmetic, and social studies. But all these are given to children between 7 and 13 years of age. After that time, they go to work or stay idle and forget whatever little education they have acquired, so that upon reaching adult hood or even before that, they return to a condition ap proaching illiteracy. Under such circumstances, it is ob vious that the millions spent for primary schools are just so much precious treasure thrown into a bottomless pit. The purpose of creating an educated citizenry is thus de feated. While the concept of adult education as the training of citizens or individuals who have failed to receive an ade quate education in the ele mentary grades is necessary and important, it should also be considered and it should serve as a continuation of training for a broader and more useful educational and cultural development pro gram. In this sense, the term ci tizenship training should not be interpreted as meaning merely ability to read and write or mere knowledge of some skilled trade or voca tion. It is more than that. It is the education that makes April 1968 5 a person a responsible man, a moral and cultured indivi dual, one who is sufficiently informed about the history of his country and his people, about his government and his social, political, and legal rights and obligations, consi dering that we have establish ed a democratic government and are expected to maintain and protect democratic insti tutions. Adult education, in a word, should lead to the acquisition of a general libe ral education involving basic knowledge of the humanities and the social and natural sciences. The second stage refers to what may be called continu ing education which presup poses the education for those who have completed their formal studies in the regular schools, colleges, and univer sities. For many of those who finished high school or col lege stop learning and grow ing culturally and intellec tually not realizing that knowledge nowadays is not static but is fast expanding, changing, and increasing. Thus continuing education envisages a process of men tal, cultural, and social im provement that should last throughout the entire life of the individual. This is the wider concept of adult edu cation, the education that men and women in adult life really need if they are to un derstand the conditions of this fast changing world in which we now live and if they are to remain as en lightened workers, observers, and active participants. The International Committee of the UNESCO for the Ad vancement of Adult Educa tion in December, 1965, said: “The idea that education does not stop with the end of childhood or adolescence but continues throughout life and meets a permanent need of individuals and societies is steadily making progress. The term ‘continuing educa tion’ has taken its place in the vocabulary not only of education specialists but also of planners and men con cerned with technical or po litical action.” Adult "education in the Philippines needs for its satis factory development the in tegrated efforts of the differ Panorama ent public or governmental agencies and of the private educational, social, and eco nomic organizations of the entire country. In addition, individuals should take an open and active interest in encouraging the enlistment of all elements in the work of education for our democracy. To carry out a program contemplated on this national scale, there are obviously two things required: One is a specific appropriation of pub lic funds to be made avail able for the training of teach ers and for their salaries and other expenses, for reading materials, and for other edu cational devices; and the sec ond is the establishment of a well-organized national bo dy in the form of a board, council, or commission under the auspices of the Depart ment of Education but with a sufficient degree of auto nomy to adopt measures it deems necessary and desir able. There should be a num ber of well-coordinated cen ters scattered in different re gions all over the country. They should include not only government-operated agen cies but also privately organ ized study circles such as those found in Sweden where there are almost one hundred thousand of them involving over one million Swedes or about one-eighth of the coun try’s population. They should be under some form of su pervision by a regional office to which appeals for certain types of assistance or coope ration may be presented for certain types of adult educa tion. It is obvious that continu ing education in essence sig nifies a recognition of the constant growth and changes of knowledge and ideas re sulting from new discoveries in scientific and scholarly advances. Vocational and even professional education to enable men and women merely to learn specific skills and techniques is far from adequate in the dynamic en vironment of the world today. The rapid mechanization of jobs and the introduction of automation are fast reducing the need and utility of ma nual dexterity except in a very limited area of human labor. The value of liberal April 1968 7 education rises higher and higher in the preparation of every individual for the ever changing conditions of this age. If education is to be frank ly and sincerely employed, as it has to be, for the develop ment, the protection, and the maintenance of democratic institutions in this country, the idea of continuing edu cation as a life-long process covering from childhood to the last days of a man’s active life is absolutely necessary. We don’t need to prove this other than to show that the ignorance of the population that make up the voters of our country today is the cause, the primary and basic cause, of the insufficiency and-poverty of the prevailing material conditions of most of our people and of the so cial and political eviU now facing our country.' The lack of appreciation on the part of most of us have for liberal education is. one of the serious causes of the absence of the sense of values and the paucity of a keen sense of responsibility noticeable in our private and public life. One of the biggest obs tacles in the educational pro gress of the masses of our country is the language used in our schools. In discussing the question of language, the wise and mature person sets aside superficial arguments arising from considerations of politics, nationalistic attitudes and personal pride. In my opinion what the country needs is a language for po pular adult education and an additional language for ad vanced learning and higher scientific improvement. The nation’s slow march in popu lar education has been caused by the fact that we have been using a foreign language for our primary and elementary schools all over the country. I do not say that we have not acquired some education through the use of a foreign language in learning the ru diments of education. What I want to say is that the suc cess of our efforts at mass education in our country has not been high enough be cause we have not made use of our vernacular languages. It is too obvious to need a long explanation that when. Panorama one has to learn a language other than his own mother tongue to acquire even the elements of learning he has to double the amount of his energies and the length of his time to succeed. In conclusion, I wish to submit this idea for serious consideration: The entire educational system of the country could be made to produce results that could really be depended upon to raise the level of the econo mic and social improvement of the whole nation if it should be organized and treated as one vast establish ment covering all educational work, public and private, formal and out-of-school, from the kindergarten to the highest institution of learn ing. The purpose is not to control the educational acti vities in their various forms and stages nor to put up an educational Czar and dictator but rather to coordinate their functions to avoid wasteful duplication and to make sure that education could be made the most vital factor for the improvement of the indivi dual and the nation. The aim should be to make edu cation the largest industry in a sense for the transformation of the Filipinos into a nation of good and productive citi zens deserving the respect of the whole world. And inci dentally, this would be the only way and the best way of changing the prevailing notion, not pleasant or com plimentary or respectable, that politics is the largest Filipino industry. — Vicente G. Sinco, Delivered at the Round Table Discussion of Life-Long Education under Unesco Philippine Auspices, March 21, 1968. April 1968 BROADER HORIZONS FOR THE BARRIO PEOPLE The approval of Republic Act No. 2370, otherwise known as the Barrio Charter, has given the people of the barrios wider opportunities for active participation in the affairs of their respective communities. As a result of this legislation, the barrio may now be said to have be come a good training ground for democracy. The law has created the barrio assembly and the barrio council, which are charged with the task of governing the barrio. Among the powers and duties of the barrio assembly are (1) to adopt measures for the rais ing of funds for the barrio by taxation and by voluntary contributions and (2) to adopt measures for the good of the barrio. Among the powers and du ties of the barrio council are the following: (a) To promulgate barrio ordinances not contrary to law or municipal ordinances. Any violation of barrio ordi nances shall be punished by a fine of not more than one hundred pesos or imprison ment of not more than fif teen days, or both such fine and imprisonment. (b) To construct and/or maintain the following: bar rio roads, bridges, viaducts, sidewalks, playgrounds and parks, school buildings, wa ter supply, drainage, irriga tion, sewerage, public toilet facilities, and other public works and facilities. (c) To sponsor cooperative projects that will improve the economic condition and well-being of the barrio resi dents. Such projects may in clude stores for the sale or purchase of commodities and/or produce, and ware houses. It may also sponsor activities relating to agricul tural and livestock produc tion and marketing, fishing, and home and barrio indus tries. It may also sponsor 10 Panorama other activities which may promote the welfare of the barrio inhabitants. (d) To accept, in all or any of the foregoing public works and cooperative enter prises, such cooperation as is made available by municipal, provincial, and national gov ernmental agencies establish ed by law to render financial, technical, and advisory as sistance to barrios and to bar rio residents. However, in accepting such cooperation, the barrio council may not pledge sums of money for ex penditure in excess of amounts currently in the bar rio treasury or obligated for other purposes. (e) To initiate and submit to the Barrio Assembly com munity programs of econo mic and social benefit to in habitants of the barrio. (f) To employ or contri bute to the expenses of em ploying community develop ment workers. (g) To submit to the Mu nicipal Council suggestions or recommendations for the improvement of its barrio and/or for the welfare of the inhabitants. (h) To hold benefits in their respective barrios with out having to secure permits from the Social Welfare Ad ministration. The proceeds from such benefits shall be tax-exempt and shall go to the barrio general fund, un less previously set aside for a specific purpose. (i) To organize at least twice a month lectures, pro grams, or community assem blies that may serve to edu cate and enlighten the peo ple. (j) To organize annually committees composed of men and women of high moral standing and integrity in the barrio to take care of the pro blems of juvenile delin quency if there is any. (k) To appropriate barrio funds to implement the pro jects of the barrio assembly. It will be seen that these powers, duties, and the responsibilities are broad enough to enable the barrio to undertake a variety of pro jects for its own improve ment. For one thing, it may start a literacy project. Based on figures takeui from the Census of 1960, it has been estimated that we have today more than five million illite rates in our country. Since about 65 per cent of our po April 1968 11 pulation are living in the ru ral areas where educational facilities are not any too good, it stands to reason that a large portion, if not the majority of these illiterates are found in the rural com munities. Consequently, if every barrio would under take a literacy project and carry it out consistently for years, we would go a long way toward eradicating illi teracy in our country. Of course, suitable reading ma terials would have to be pro vided those who have learned to read; otherwise, they are likely to lapse into illiteracy. But this is only one aspect of the solution to the problem of illiteracy. The other as pect is the accommodation in school of all children of school age. But very often the chief hindrance to the accommodation of children is the lack of a suitable build ing. For this reason, the bar rio, under the leadership of its officials, would do well to use its initiative and its re sources in building a school house so that it can ask for an extension teacher or a number of extension teachers, depending upon the number of children applying for ad mission. In fact, as we have seen, the construction of school buildings is one of the powers and responsibilities of the barrio council. Educating both children and adults is the most effec tive way to eradicate illite racy. We cannot overempha size the importance of a high percentage of literacy, for studies have shown that coun tries with the highest per centages of literacy, like the United States, England, and the Scandinavian countries, are also the most progressive. On the other hand, those with low percentages of lite racy are generally backward. Only recently, the Unesco reported its finding to the United Nations Economic Commission for Asia and the Far East as follows: “From the viewpoint of economic development, literacy train ing appears to be the best means of increasing produc tivity.” (Unesco Chronicle, September, 1966, pp. 338341). The barrio can also initiate a number of home industries. First, it can send some of its talented young people to the Nacida for training on condi tion that upon their return 12 Panorama they will devote their time and energies to the making of salable articles out of raw materials that are available locally. The agreement could contain a proviso to the effect that the amount spent in training should be paid back to the barrio in easy install ments. A few years ago we visited the barrio of Alabang in Muntinlupa, Rizal. Here we noted many families engaged in the poultry raising indus try. They produced eggs for sale. In this way, they were able to add a considerable amount to their other sources of income. We were inform ed that this industry was started with the encourage ment of the teachers. In the same way, the officials of any barrio would do well to en courage tlje people to engage in similar or other suitable projects, depending upon lo cal conditions. If the barrio does not have a good road connecting it to the main highway, it can build a feeder road with the help of the Presidential Arm on Community Development. Needless to say, good roads are essential in order that the farmers may be able to market their products and the people can travel to the poblacion and other commu nities with ease and comfort. It will be readily admitted that one cause of the back wardness of a barrio is the lack of effective communica tion with the more progres sive communities. The barrio can also im prove itself with the coopera tion of all its residents. One good example of how a bar rio has improved itself is what has been done in the barrio of Aguining on the island of Lapinig, within the jurisdiction of Ul?ay, Bohol. We saw this fishing barrio some years ago. Its streets were well laid out and each one had its name indicated on a post at the corners. In the middle of the barrio the people had erected a recrea tion center with galvanized iron roofing and a concrete floor. This building was used tor holding meetings, pro grams, and dances. For the last activity, a small string rondalla had been organized under the leadership of the barrio lieutenant. A small portion of the building was set aside for a library. The achievement of this barrio April 1968 13 was so outstanding that it was included among the six community schools which were described in a pamphlet issued by the Unesco Na tional Commission of the Philippines. Another thing the barrio leaders can do in a farming community is to improve the methods of work of the far mers. In most cases, they are merely following the prac tices they have inherited from their ancestors. They do not plow the soil thoroughly. They do not select the seed for planting. They do not use fertilizer even when that is needed. They do not know how to fight and control plant pests and diseases. In cases like these, the barrio captain should seek the help of the agricultural extension worker to demonstrate to the farmers 'the modern and scientific methods of farming. Ony in this way may we ex pect improvement in the yield of the farmers. If there is a suitable stream that can be used for irriga tion purposes, the people can start a community irrigation project so that they will not have to depend upon the rainfall, which more often than not, is irregular. With such irrigation the rice far mers can have two harvests each year. Still another project which the barrio may undertake is the improvement of the health of the people. For this purpose, it can dig an artesian well that can supply the community with clean and safe water. The council can pass ordinances calculat ed to improve the sanitary condition of the barrio. For example, it can require every household to provide itself with a sanitary toilet, prefer ably the water-sealed type. It can also require every home owner to keep its sur roundings clean and sanitary. Furthermore, it can encou rage the pepple to beautify their respective premises. Lastly, of great significance is the duty imposed upon the council to have lectures given twice a month on topics that are of vital interest to the barrio people, such as those that refer to sanitation, mar keting, better methods of farming, food selection and food preparation, and the like. Enough has been said, it is believed, to show the op 14 Panorama portunities that have been opened to the barrios as a re sult of the approval of the Barrio Charter. No longer do they have to depend upon the municipality since they are provided with the instru ments for their own improve ments. Consequently, whe ther the barrio will move for ward or lag behind other similar communities will de pend largely upon the resi dents themselves and their leaders. — By Dr. Cecilio Putong, Former Secretary of Education, Freemasons’ Edu cational Bulletin, Feb., 1967. THREE REMARKABLE BROTHERS A Scotsman met an American, and both began to relate and boast about their respective countries, adventurers, and relations. The American said: “I have three brothers. One’s a baker, one’s a bucket-raker, and the other’s a thief. That is, one bakes, one rakes, and one takes.” Sandy replied: “I, too, have three brothers. One’s in a coal mine, one’s unemployed, and the other’s in the asylum. That is, one brings up coal, one’s on the dole, and the other’s up the pole.” — Parade. April 1968 15 BULLETS, VIOLENCE The gunning down of Con gressman Amante (on March 26, 1968) is a continuing re minder that peace and order is now the fundamental na tional problem. It will be im possible for the nation to sur vive if the situation continues to deteriorate. Despite a w e 11-publicized ant i-crime campaign following the pub lishers’ pool editorial lament ing the sad state of peace and order this country, criminal elements think nothing of shooting a congressman in public. We do not know the facts behind this recent as sassination attempt, but it fits into the same pattern of kill ings in that it shows our so ciety is becoming more and more prone to violence and scornful of the law. Today one can be anywhere, driv ing a car as in the case of the radio commentator Yabut, or dining in a restaurant as in the case of Speaker Laurel, or waiting for an ele vator in the lobby of a gov ernment building, or receiv ing communion in church, and a hired killer will come and shoot you down. Human life is that cheap. And this attitude seeps down on the entire nation, whether one refers to farmer-Huks killed, or religious fanatics like the Lapiang Malaya slaughtered, or the more re cent reports of Special Forces trainees being “massacred.” This situation prevails not only in our gangsterinfluenced cities because kill ings are even more rampant in the rural areas, whether one is talking about bandits, pirates, Huks, or armed goons in Nueva Ecija, Tarlac, Pampanga, Cavite, Ilocos, or the Southern provinces. The rea sons for killings are diverse, from personal family feuds to politics, to plain criminal avarice. Our image abroad is already such that most visitors who come here, al ways state that they had come despite the warnings and cries of alarm of travel agents, transport personnel, and friends. Pursuant to this, a bill was proposed in Con gress requiring that local crime news reports can be 16 Panorama published in Pilipino so they may escape the tourist’s eye. Alas, it is more than our image abroad that is in grave peril, it is our very lives as citizens of this republic, and the life of this nation as civil ized society. According to someone, who has been to Jolo, recently, the PC enforcement groups there are outgunned and alienated from the people, all of whom carry the latest automatic weapons. Those in the hinterlands are flocking to town for protection. When a farmer plows his field he needs his brother to stand by cradling an Armalite. We need more than a mailed fist policy against criminal violence. We need a positive voice speaking out for law and order and civilized hu man decency. — Alfredo R. Roces, Manila Times, March 27, 1968. April 1968 17 BILLIONS FOR PHILIPPINE EDUCATION It is needless to say that the leaders of our country, the leading men in our so ciety, and all those who are concerned with the present development and the future improvement of our nation have been concentrating their attention and labor on the physical and visible as pects of our economic and social life: the production of the food we have to eat, the clothes we need to wear, and the transportation faci lities our farms and facto ries require. Consequently, the great pride of the pre sent government administra tion of this country lies in the claim ,of having increased the production of rice and corn and of having cons tructed more roads, bridges, port-works, airports, and other material factors that come under the impressive term infra-structure. To the extent that this achievement has been shown in a con crete, visible, and finished or partially-finished form, the present government leaders could fairly claim some measure of success in the management of public functions. To close one’s eyes to the reality of this record is to deny deliberate ly and foolishly the facts of actual performance. Beyond this enumeration of accomplishments, how ever, there is very little, if anything at all, that may be claimed with genuine pride. Those who disagree with this statement are likely to tell us that we seem to forget the hundreds, nay thousands, of new schoolrooms and schoolhouses that have been built during the last few years. They would. tell us that over a million more children have been accom modated in our public schools. They would remind us that two or three cultural structures and lovely parks have been or are being erected in the metropolitan 18 Panorama center of the country. Let us grant that these features of social growth, these out ward signs of educational and cultural activities ap pear to give a certain com pleteness and outward coun terbalance to the infra structural development and grain production brought about in several parts of our country. Having made these admis sions, however, a thoughtful and serious observer of the overall scene cannot help but agree with the critics that these gains and benefits claimed by our political leaders as the fruit of their labor and their dedication to the public weal are out weighed and outbalanced by the losses suffered and the liabilities incurred by the country on account of their shortcomings, their selfish decisions, and their socially nearsighted acts. Collective ly, these capital deficiencies have depressed the mood and the spirit of the individual citizen, have placed in jeo pardy the safety of his body and the security of his hardearned possessions, have deeply disturbed the peace of his mind, and have un dermined his faith in the ob servance of equal justice in his dealings with his fellows and his government. Funda mentally, they are traceable to a general moral anemia caused by inadequate and meager educational program. In the field of culture and education, it is no , exaggera tion to assert that very little may be pointed out as real accomplishments achieved by our Government through sound planning and effec tive execution on the part of our leaders during the last 25 years. Of course, they are primarily political leaders; but unfortunately they do make decisions in areas which are beyond their competence in which they should iiot therefore interfere but leave them to those qualified by proper expertise and experience. The mere fact that they, as political figures, have suc ceeded in winning elections, in placing their friends in public positions for which many are not sufficiently qualified, and in raising the salaries of government em ployees through wasteful use of public funds, does not make them experts in all April 1968 19 other human activities or in all public affairs. In the lexicon of men who value the work of the mind and appreciate the higher things of life, nothing of concrete excellence, solid 'worth, and lasting importance has been satisfactorily achieved so far by any of our political leaders. It is not easy to find exceptions among them if by important and lasting achievement we mean acts that raise the moral atmos phere of our country and the educational qualifications of the great majority of our people. For our present purpose, it is quite enough to point to certain unfortunate con ditions which may be safe ly stated as evidence of the failure of leadership in this country. Among them the following are well known: The incidence of crime is extremely high in a nation that claims to have been ci vilized and christianized over three conturies; the rate of illiteracy among the in habitants is close to 40 per cent; out of a population of almost 34 million inhabitants barely one million could be counted as intelligent voters in public elections; public offices are often held by their occupants not as pub lic trust but as opportunities for enriching themselves di rectly or indirectly; the term graft and corruption has .be come a popular byword in relation to the conduct and management of government work. Why are these things hap pening among a people who are supposed to be adequately provided with schools and teachers? With this state of things existing as background, we cannot conscientiously declare that this country is largely led by active and thoughtful guides; that it is under the influence of able and high-minded citizens; and that it enjoys the inspiration of morally res ponsible and conscientious leaders. Yes, we cannot sin cerely proclaim that our people have been choosing clean intelligent, and un selfish leaders. Under these circumstances several questions then meet us face to face: Is there something inherently wrong in the mental and moral up bringing of the Filipino peo ple? Is there something 20 Panorama missing in the total prepara tion of our country for an independent national life? Is there something in our na tional Constitution that has caused the rampant cases of misery, disorder, and tragedy that beset the Filipino peo ple? Is there a serious gap or a defective principle in the educational philosophy of our institutions of learn ing. These are questions that should challenge every think ing and responsible Filipino, particularly every college and university graduate. Scholars in the field of his tory, sociology, and psycho logy may well give us a con vincing or at least a plausible explanation of this plethora of national illnesses. One thing, however, seems cer tain • in the opinion of care ful and responsible observers; and it is this: There is nothing radically wrong with our national Constitution al though some of its provi sions are alien to our cul tural and social conditions. The trouble is that the Constitution has not been religiously or faithfully ob served by leading citizens of the nation; and that these individuals as a group have lost much of their sense of values in their frenzied ef forts to acquire power and prestige and to possess money in abundance. Not contented with violating the terms of the national Char ter, a select group of them have gone to the extreme of proposing, amendments to certain parts of that docu ment to enlarge their power and influence further and to remain longer in the seats of authority. Our innocent and unenlightened voters who form the bulk of our electorate are oftentimes misled by clever and un scrupulous politicians into choosing not the men with high intellectual and moral qualifications but the mental ly and morally mediocre who make opportunism and greed their ruling norm of personal political behavior. It is bad enough that they form an influential part of our governing class but as constituting a visible sector of the Establishment they are taken and followed by young and older people as living models of practical behavior. The most effective and lasting remedy of these ills April 1968 21 may not be found in a strong police force inasmuch as policemen may themselves become active authors of crime and disorder. Neither does it necessarily lie in the supply of food or in the com pleteness of the so-called national infra-structure. It lies primarily in sound and nationally total education. Hence, for a healthy national growth, our people must in sist that the nation’s educa tion be undertaken by the government with vigor and intelligence and promptness. Similar statements have been repeatedly expressed by many Filipinos in different walks of life. Indeed, we seem to have a legion of experts on the subject. But it is not difficult to discover that the ideas that most of us have ^bout education are generally, superficial and va gue. They are oftentimes confusing and even idiotic. In fact not a" few of us who are known as educators in this country think of edu cation in terms of the pre Sputnik educational ideas of many Americans. But while most American educationists have already modified their obsolete notions and have adjusted their methods, tech niques, and aims to the changes of modern science and scientific discoveries, most of us in this country, including those in education work itself, are still firm in our conviction that what we had learned and had known in the days before the Sec ond World War are still good enough for all of us. If we really desire to give the highest priority’/tojeducation in our national prog ram of work, it is incunibent upon every responsible Fi lipino leader or official to grasp the meaning of edu cation as an idea, a concept, a principle, an accomplish ment, or a quality in the light of modern science and scholarship. We should un derstand that education does not result from being merely physically present in the classroom of a college or university, and neither does it necessarily result from the receipt of a diploma and from the acquisition of a de gree. It does not even re sult from our ability to re tain in our memory an ac cumulation of facts and in formation of different kinds. Education, above all, should 22 Panorama not be treated as an epheme ral phenomenon, a passing event in the life of man. It is not an object to be pur sued and prized today and then abandoned and forgot ten tomorrow. In a word, we should un derstand that education is a life-long process. It should serve as a running stream in every person’s life, changing and receiving fresh water as it flows, otherwise we will find ourselves drink ing, as it were, from a stag nant pool, filthy, unhealthy, and even poisonous. Com mencement in the high school, college, or universi ty does not mark the termi nation of the process of edu cation. An individual and a nation may rightly claim as being educated only to the extent that they continue their efforts to learn and to improve t^eir educational competence throughout their life-time. Education is endless as long as inventions, discove ries, and the search for new and better processes, new and better ideas continue to excite human interest and curiosity; it is endless as long as the freedom of man’s spirit is unshackled; it is endless as long as man’s thirst for truth and beauty and nobility remains un quenched. Graduation day may only be rightly under stood when considered as a forward step towards indivi dual fulfillment. To regard it in any other manner is to court educational disaster and intellectual death. This is the only conception of education that can make a country great. This is the conception of education that should have the highest priority in the schedule of activities for any good ad ministration of this country. This is the conception of education that deserves a budget of billions, a budget equal to the total expendi ture of the national govern ment for all of its other activities. This is the con ception of education that should transform our present near-sighted philosophy of education and our wasteful school system into a life giving process of individual and national growth. This is the conception of educa tion which when carried out leads us to greatness. Quantitatively, this new April 1968 philosophy of education in volves an activity and ser vice for all the elements of the entire Filipino people — the children, the youth, and the adults in both middle and old age. To be faith fully and properly carried out, the educational opera tion involved is not to be limited as it is now to pri mary and elementary schools, to high schools and voca tional schools, and to col leges and universities. It includes the training of all citizens who are out of school or who are through with formal schooling. To produce the best over all results, the successive stages and parts of the edu cational plan based on this philosophy, from childhood to old age, should be coordi nated and integrated in or der that a unified and strong educational structure may be formed, a better utiliza tion of available resources may be secured, and a re duction of wastage in money and effort may be effected. Pertinent to this subject are the words of an important UNESCO Committee report in December, 1965, which reads as follows: In a new context — one where education takes its place in every sector of existence and throughout the whole period of the personal ity’s development — many of Whe walls by which the different types and phases of education al activity are sealed off, often hermetically from one another must disap pear, giving way to ac tive and lively commu nication. Henceforward, education may be con ceived as a coherent structure in which each part is dependent upon the others and has no meaning except in rela tion to the others. If one part of the structure is lacking, the remainder is out of balance and none of the parts is equipped to provide the specific services for which it was devised. What is needed, then, is a series of harmoniza tions with respect to theory no less than to practical work. Qualitatively, it calls for a program of studies that fit our needs and conditions 24 Panorama and direct our efforts to wards our social, economic, and cultural goals. For the fact is that our education al system, organization of courses, and ways of evaluat ing educational growth have been almost mete carbon copies of American ideas and techniques. . We adore that system and follow it thought lessly without considering that such an imitative pro cedure is basically undesir able for several reasons: one is that the American system is based on conditions, so cial, historical, cultural, and economic, very different from ours; two is that we often overlook its changing character right in its own native environment and we consider it largely unchang ing from decade to decade; and three is that we are not keeping ourselves aware of its particular purpose and we assume that what is good for Americans is good enough for Filipinos also. All these defects proceed from our uncritical attitude that as America is strong and rich and healthy, her educational institutions, me thods, practices, and aims are worthy of being imitated and adopted in the Philip pines and by the Filipinos. We do not even try to un derstand and remember that Americans have had their educational shortcom ings, cultural failures, eco nomic disasters, moral delin quencies, and unsolved so cial problems. We do not even try to understand and remember that what is dis tinctly an American civiliza tion is relatively new and fresh and as yet untested in the crucible of long centu ries of struggle, strifes, dif ficulties, and sufferings; and so the American experiment in education is hardly de serving as an ideal pattern for us to follow completely in our educational program for national development. This is not to say, how ever, that certain American influences have not brought improvements on certain aspects of our national life. But they have also brought much confusion in our sense of values. They have im pressed upon us the great benefits of individual free dom. But they have not suf ficiently emphasized the vir tue of self-restraint and selfeffacement. They have given April 1968 25 us an exaggerated apprecia tion of money and material values. A plan based on this new philosophy of education should be of vital concern to us for the growth of our social order, for the deve lopment of our national po tentialities and inherent qua lities, for a widespreading moral and cultural develop ment, and for a fruitful exertion of efforts at build ing a virile nation possessed of its own distinctive genius. No thinking Filipino would want to see his country de veloped as a mere replica of any other nation. Fortunately for us under the provisions of our own Constitution we may adopt a system based on a new educational philosophy such as <vhat we are at present discussing. Any decision to take full advantage of it depends upon a wise and farsighted educational states manship and upon some boldness of planning and execution by enlightened leaders. These constitution al provisions read as follows: “The government shall establish and maintain a complete and adequate system of public educa tion and shall provide at least free primary ins truction, and citizenship training to adult citi zens.” All these many years our system of education has been neither complete in its scope nor adequate in its nature and purpose. Its co verage has been extremely limited and its performance undeniably inadequate. The terms of the provisions of the Constitution contemplate a comprehensive educational work which should specifi cally include children and adults. To put this into ef fect our educational program should be promoted with imagination, boldness, and creative thinking. It has to take into account the realities of the vital changes that have been taking place in the ideas and the new knowledge acquired during the last 20 or 30 years. Our present system has been wasting much money and time in its failure to dis card the non-essential and the unimportant from pres cribed courses and studies. 26 Panorama It has been largely limited to the training of children in elementary schools; and any further instruction has not gone beyond the educa tion of groups of adolescents in secondary schools and of young men in higher insti tutions. But citizenship training which the Consti tution expressly enjoins the government to give to adult citizens is almost entirely neglected. Continuing edu cation for past college gra-; duates and older people who have failed to keep up with the advances of learning has never been thought of. What our Constitution contemplates in providing for a complete and adequate system of education is a program of sound, useful, and up-to-date educational training for all Filipinos of every age, sex, and social station throughout life. In telligently interpreted in the light of this age of science and learning, the Constitu tion has to be understood as embracing the new phi losophy of education. This is an idea that takes into account the need for constant educational growth of all the people of the coun try from the early years of infancy to the last minutes of the active life of every Filipino citizen. Any other system, particularly what we still hold and fol low, will make it impossible for us to meet the demands of a modern community and to respond to the require ments of a democratic gov ernment. To carry out this new edu cational philosophy the ma jor fraction of the financial resources of our govern ment should be devoted ex clusively to the work of edu cation for all the elements of the population. To push the plan into reality and to make it the basis of a new educational system, the lead ing citizens of the nation should support in word and deed the democratic princi ple of free private enter prise. By its strict observ ance we shall put an end to the proliferation of govern mental functions by doing away with those activities which the government itself should not and cannot pro perly and effectively per form and so has regularly wasted vast amounts of pub lic funds in addition to the April 1968 27 mounting corruption and op pressive taxation it has caused. These ideas should be broadcast among our en lightened and responsible citizens for them to consi der so they may, if con vinced of their validity, de mand that they be carried out by those in charge of the administration of our government. We should face this chal lenge and meet it with hope and determination; for it is by its prompt and effective fulfillment that the roots of progress will grow deep and strong to support a happy people and a vigorous socie ty. — V. G. Sinco, THE VERMIN OF STATE And so I fear, my country, not the hand That shall hurl might and whirlwind on the land. I fear not titan traitors that shall rise To stride like broken shadows on our skies; I feai; the vermin that shall undermine Senate and school and citadel and shrine; The worm of fraud, the fatted worm of ease And all the crawling progeny of these. I fear the vermin that shall honeycomb the towers And walls of state in unsuspecting hours. —Edwin Markham from The Bell Tower of Venice. 28 Panorama DO TEACHERS TALK TOO MUCH? Do teachers talk too much? Much too much. From the time we enter the school in the morning till we leave it at night, we hardly stop talking. Some of the time we hand out information. Perhaps we read something from a text. Or we tell students some thing we think they ought to know. Other times we demonstrate, or explain, or criticize, or correct: This is how you do this experiment. This is how you are to write your book report. This is why you got that problem wrong. Sometimes we run what we like to call discussions. Even then, we usually talk as much as all the students put together. Most discus sions are pretty phony, any way. Teachers begin a dis cussion with “points” in mind that they want the stu dents to say. The students know this, so they fish for clues to find out what is wanted. They say, “I don’t get it.” “I don’t quite know what you mean by....” The teacher’s questions get more and more pointed, until they point straight to the answer. When , the teacher finally gets the answer he was af ter, he talks some more, to make sure all the students understand it is the “right” answer, and why it is. Once I was teaching a fifth-grade math class and was very much pleased with myself because, instead of “telling” a youngster, I was “making her think” by ask ing questions. But she didn’t answer. I followed each question with another that was easier and more pointed. Still no answer. I looked hard at my silent student and discovered she didn’t even look puzzled. Just patient. Then it dawned on me: She was just waiting for that really pointed ques tion — the one that would give her the right answer. When a child gets answers by such means, it does dou April 1968 29 ble harm: He doesn’t learn, and he comes to believe that a combination to bluffing, guessing, mind reading, snatching at clues, and get ting answers from other peo ple is what school is all about. Much of teacher’s talk, maybe most of it, is just classroom management — keeping the kids in line. Somewhere we got the crazy notion that a class would learn most efficiently if everyone was learning the same thing at the same time. As if a class were a facto ry. So we have these flocks of children that we are try ing to lead or drive down a chosen road. They don’t all want to ’go down that road; maybe none of them do They have other things they would rather do or think about. So we continually have to round them up and move them along, like a dog herding sheep. Only, our voice is the dog. “Now, children, take out paper and pencil, and turn to page 34. We’re going to work on — Tommy, where is your pencil? What? Well, why don’t you? Come up here and I’ll give you an other. ... Mary, stop whis pering to Helen. Is your book open to the proper page?” And so on. We talk to get children ready to do what they are supposed to do, and then we talk to make sure they are doing it. We talk to keep everyone’s attention focused on the front of the room. Not long ago I saw an ex pert teacher, who had good rapport with his class, using a slide-film projector to do an arithmetic lesson. I be gan to wonder how many of the words he was speak ing had to do with the actual work and how many had to do with sheep-dogging — keeping the class together. It was clear after a while that there was much more sheep-dogging than work — two or three times as much. This is not unusual. One result of too much teacher talk is that children who, when they were little, were turned on full all the time, learn to turn them selves off or down. They listen with only a small part of their being, like any adult listening to boring talk. If 30 Panorama this goes on long enough, they forget how to turn themselves up, to listen with all their attention. They lose the knack of it and the taste for it. It is a great loss. Of course, teachers know that children turn them off, and they have their little tricks to try and keep the children tuned in. But the children learn the little tricks that various teachers use, and low-powered listening becomes a substitute for high-powered attention. But more important is that fact that while teachers talk all they want, the children get hardly any chance to talk at all. In most schools, the rule is still that children may speak only when called on. Many schools prohibit talking between classes, more than a few prohibit talking at lunch, and I have even heard of some where child ren were not allowed to talk during recess. When we treat children this way, we make them bad learners. For real learning takes place only when the learner plays a dual role, when he is both learner and teacher, doer and critic, listener and speaker. The student -who tries only to remember what is in his will not even succeed in doing that. The skillful learner talks to, even argues with, the book. He asks .himself questions and checks his un derstanding as he goes along. Your poor student never knows what parts of a lesson he understands and what he does not. He leaves it to the teacher to find out. Little children learning to walk, talk, and do a hun dred other things are good at judging their own perfor mances. Too often, is school and nonstop talking teachers that turn them into inert and passive learners — targets for verbal missiles that in jure initiative. Moreover, when a child gets little or no chance to talk, he does not get better at talking. Most of the fifth graders I have known were no more articulate than many five-year-olds of comparable background; many of them were less so. This affects all their work in English. The child who is not used to putting his thoughts in to words will not be able to put them into writing. He April 1968 31 will say that he can’t think of anything to write about. When he does write, he will find it hard to tell whe ther his writing is good or not. For the test of good writing, after all, is not whe ther it conforms to rules of grammar — some of the worst writing around does that — but whether it sounds go6d. The only way a child can become skillful in the use of language is through trying to say, in speech or writing, things he wants to say, to people he trusts and wants to reach. But there is a still more important reason for having teachers talk less and let ting children talk more. A child comes to school full of thoughts, ideas, curiosity, wonder. ' But he soon finds out that nobody is interested in what he knows, what he is curious about, what he cares about. School is not a place for him to ask his questions, share his concerns, satisfy his curiosity. Before long he comes to doubt the worth of his own thoughts. He begins to feel, like his teachers, that the things that worry or please him or what he needs to find out about are unimportant, a waste of time. He does not develop a sense of his own identity and worth. He does not think of himself as a uni que and valuable person, with ideas to express and share, with interests and skills he would find joy in pursuing and developing. He comes instead to feel that he can find satisfaction in life only by pleasing the authorities or the crowd. He loses his taste for indepen dence and freedom, and is ready to follow anyone, or any group, that will make him feel like a somebody instead of a nobody. Is this what we want? Haven’t we learned by now how much harm such peo ple can do? Are we ready to start do ing less talking and more listening, to treat children so that they will grow up feeling, not like slaves and puppets, but like free and valuable men? — John Holt, in The PT A Magazine and Education Digest, December, 1967. 32 Panorama OUR GOAL: WORLD PEACE THROUGH LAW It is equally an honor and a pleasure to join with you in this celebration of the adoption of your constitu tion. This is particularly so because I speak to you to night under the auspices of the Philippine Constitution Association dedicated to the defense and preservation of your constitution and the leader in the never ending crusade for the respect of the rule of law. The con tribution of this association is not only working toward law and order in the Phil ippines; it is also making a real contribution to peace through law throughout the world. For, we know that wars settle little. We must realize by now that peace will only come through law. World peace through law must become the goal for all freedom loving people. Our two countries have so much in common that I will talk to you tonight about the development of our constitutional form of gov ernment in the hope that it will give you ideas for the preservation and im provement of yours. It has been said that “The Past is Prologue.” In our country we look to our great immortal documents: the Declaration of Independence and our Constitution. They are certainly remark able in the sense that we have managed to endure for nearly two hundred years as an independent constitution al republic — far longer, I suspect, than the framers dared hope. They were, af ter all, fully aware that they were launching an experi ment in statecraft on radical ly new and untried princi ples — which the colective wisdom of the old world regarded as fundamentally misguided and destined for failure. It is easy for us to forget just how novel and April 1968 33 how radical the plans of the framers were. In those days every right-thinking English man knew, for example, that the power of sovereignty must be undivided and un limited. As Blackstone wrote in his Commentaries: “There is and must be in all/forms of government/a supreme ir resistible, absolute, uncon trolled authority, which * * * the right of sovereignty re side.” Yet the framers con ceived a plan of govern ment in which governmen tal powers were not only carefully limited, but also divided up among the branches of government and dispersed among the com ponents of a federal sys tem. Then, too, everyone in those days knew that liberty and stability could be successfully maintained only in a state in which the respective virtues of mo narchy, aristocracy and de mocracy were skillfully com bined and balanced on the model of the British consti tution. That was the learn ing of the ages; it was pro pounded as gospel by such liberal thinkers as Montes quieu. Yet the Americans hope fully, though perhaps with trepidation, gambled on the notion that they could dis pense with King and nobles and that liberty and order could be maintained without the mediating power of a privileged social class. In deed, they called into ques tion the whole time honor ed system of distinctions based on caste, class and birth. These shocking and unprecendented ideas, forged in the years leading up to the Revolution and the Consti tution, have, of course, be come part of the fabric of our national life. And that leads me to suggest a secand respect in which those old documents in the Archives are remarkable. Not only did they launch our government on dan gerously new principles, but they continue to bespeak, after all these years, a con ception of society which con tinues to challenge us, which continues to hold out unfulfilled promises and un realized aspirations. Nearly two centuries have not ex hausted their capacity to de mand re-examination of the status quo and to summon 34 Panorama the energies of reform. Somehow those documents were molded out of elements which set off a chain re action in the minds of men which has persisted down to this day and continues to stir all who can perceive the discrepancies between the promise and the reality of American life. I think it is very clear in Washington today — in the Congress and the Executive and, not the least, the Sup reme Court — that activity and change are being pro moted by the transforming logic of principles which were first glimpsed here as colonists thought their way to independence. Nor are these stirrings confined to Washington. Throughout the country, wherever the disenfranchised are being registered to vote, wherever schools are being desegre gated, wherever election dis tricts are being more fairly apportioned, wherever indigents are being afforded counsel to secure their rights, in a hundred polling places and a hundred court rooms, those ideas are on the march. And so I think that if we want to know what is happening and where we are and where we are going, we do well to recall where we started. What is past is prologue. A few decades ago it was the fashion among American historians to see the events of the period leading up to the Revolution and the Constitutional convention as the result of the struggle of classes and economic forces in which ideas and ideals played a subordinate role — largely as camouflage for what was really going on. More recent scholarship has focused anew on what men said and have redis covered the extent to which things were swept along by the force of ideas.1 Once embarked on the problem of rationalizing their relation ship with Great Britain, the Americans found themselves led, step by step, to reexa mine and reject most of the received, accepted, orthodox principles of social organiza tion and to fashion new prin ciples for a new society. Not all the implications of those new principles were seen at once, or being seen were acted on. Indeed, they were so radical, so pregnant with April 1968 35 change, that we are still finding new implications, new applications, and new aspects of life are being sub jected to their transforming power. After all these years, some of the reasonable in ferences to be drawn from such notions as the equality of man continue to take a lot of people by surprise. Again and again through out our history, principles which seemed as familiar as platitudes have turned out to battle cries. Let me give you a few ex amples of what I mean. When the Americans became concerned with the prob lem of taxes levied by Par liament in which they had no voice, they were told what every good Englishman knew, that Parliament repre sented ajl citizens — not actually, but “virtually” — and that Americans were virtually represented in the same way as were the in habitants of Manchester and Birmingham, who also had no vote and elected no re presentatives. This of course led to analysis of the nature of representative govern ment, and to the conclusion that if Manchester and Bir mingham were not actually represented, they ought to be; that the capacity to re present and legislate arises only from the election of those represented; that a le gislature should be “in mi niature and exact portrait of the people at large” and that “equal interests among the people should have equal in terests in it * * * increas/ing/ or decreas/ing/ with the number of inhabitants.”2 That thought, published in Philadelphia by John Adams, is translated in our time as “one man — one vote,” and serves as the impulse under lying Baker v. Carr3 and Sims4 and the whole drive for legislative reapportion ment. That radical novelty has been lurking all these years in the history books we give to children. Sooner or later someone was bound to read it. It has been said, of course, that whatever the merits of redistricting, it is no busi ness of the courts. The co lonists had been over that ground. Faced with an om nicompetent Parliament, they had said that there was, or ought to be, a law superior to Parliament. And from 36 Panorama there they proceeded to ar gue, as one lawyer did as early as 1761, not only that an act of Parliament “against the constitution is void” but that it was the duty of the courts to “pass such acts into disuse.”6 Judicial re view by an independent judi ciary was soon seen as the sine qua non of constitu tional government, and in a few years they were to list among their grievances against the King that “He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.” Let me give you another example. While pursuing their problems with Eng land, the Americans began to stumble over the largely local problem of religious establishments, supported, maintained, and sanctioned with varying force in each of the colonies. Could meh properly be taxed to support churches to which they did not belong? Was it con sistent to demand political liberty from England while denying liberty of conscience to dissenters at home? Did a government of limited po wers have any business le gislating on man’s relation ship to his Maker? And shortly John Adams, a pillar of the established church of Massachusetts, concluded that no legislature has “power to enact articles of doctrine or forms of dis cipline or modes of wor ship.”6 Do you catch an in timation that perhaps the New York Board of Regents has no business drafting prayers for school children? Established religion was not the only institution which came under scrutiny. Emanations of the new thinking spread out, unex pectedly, in all directions. Once it had been suggested to Parliament that all men are born free, the embarassing discrepancy between the professed principle of free dom and the reality of a half-million Negro slaves could not readily be over looked. The incompatibility of slavery and freedom did not go unnoticed. In the decade before the revolution, the institution of slavery and the laws which up-held it came under increasingly forceful attack. A citizen of Philadelphia, Richard April 1968 37 Wells demanded of his fel low citizens: How can we “reconcile our exercise of slavery with our profession of freedom.”8 He could find no basis for harmonizing the two, and neither could any one else. In the early 1770’s several of the future states prohibited the importation of slaves; some ruled that any slaves imported should auto matically become free; and in April 1776 Congress proscribed further importa tion of slaves into any of the colonies. Of course, tragically for the future of the nation, slavery was not disposed of. There was com promise and backsliding. The Constitution recognized and protected slave-holding. But the incongruity of slavery in- a nation conceived in liberty and dedicated to the equality of all men had been perceived, and that per ception floated through our history like an iceberg — awaiting the inevitable col lision. And not only slavery, but also the caste system which was eventually subs tituted for it stood condemned — not by the Supreme Court or by Congress but, from the outset, by the very princi ples on which the nation was launched. And so as we struggle to cut the knots tied by the long years of bond age, of cradle-to-grave segre gation, of disfranchisement, of unequal protection of the law, we are still reaching out for the first principles of our national life. And it is those principles, which we dare not deny, which point the way to Brown v. Board of Education9 and the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. In this and in other areas of concern, it is because those principles still give drive and direction that I am not troubled by the much criticized so-called ac tivism of the Supreme Court. It seems clear to me that the Court has been doing what it is supposed to be do ing. It is trying, as it must, to bring law into congruity with the constituent assump tions of our society. It is undeniable that in recent years the Court has worked far-reaching and, for some, disturbing changes in the patterns of our communal life. But those who are dis mayed by these fast-moving developments and have taken 38 Panorama issue with the Court have mistaken the source of their distress. But I think that we have tended to forget or to overlook the extent to which a demanding, and potential ly transforming, idealism was laid down as the very corner stone of our constitutional system. If that fact is grasp ed, change is less surprising. If you set out on a voyage of discovery, you will pro bably put in at unexpected ports. We have not come to the end of the road; it is not even in sight. Do we deny the equality of all men be fore the law when many lack effective representation by counsel? Do we perpetuate distinctions of birth when many children are condemhed to grow up in slums? Do we obstruct the pursuit of happiness when many are denied an opportunity for an adequate education? I could go on; and we will go on. The Past is Prologue. If we take the experience of the past of our country and combine this with the expe rience under your Constitu tion, I am sure we can face the future with confidence. One thing we know, neither Constitution is perfect. Neither Constitution will ever be perfect until all of us shoulder our responsibility to make them work. We can not wait for each citizen to do this. Rather, we shall work with those who are willing. PHILCONSA is leading the good example. If we have more organiza tions like PHILCONSA throughout the world we would be much closer to our goal of World Peace Through Law. What we need more than anything else is faith in our own governments — faith in our own Constitutions — faith in our own laws. Se condly, we need determina tion and willingness to work within these laws. We must? insist on government of laws — not government of men. Thirdly, we must realize that true democracy, a lasting peace requires hard work by all peoples. So, I close with two final admonitions. One is an old true statement: “Eternal Vigilance is the price of Peace.” And another old but true statement repeated by President Johnson just a (Turn to page 45) April 1968 39 THE PARSON COLLEGE EXPERIENCE Much has been written, but little has been said, about that pirate’s cove of higher education, Parsons College. I have just completed a year as one of that widely adver tised faculty, paid betterthan-Harvard rates to forage for salvage through the clink ers deposited in the cornbelt of Iowa by the other colleges of the nation. As the latest year in almost'two decades of college teaching, “the Par sons experience” has amused me, frustrated me, outraged me, impressed me, left me with the taste of honey and the smell of ashes. It has been interesting. For the benefit of the few who have not heard about the continuing Parsons story, a brief summary. Parsons is an Iowa college then in 1955 had a few hundred students, a dready campus, and a fresh ly invested president — a New York clergyman by the name of Millard Roberts. By 1966, Persons had between five and six thousand stu dents, a plant valued (by the college itself) at some $21 million, four vice-presidents, and a good many professors earning between $20,000 and $40,000 for an eight-month year. How had Roberts done it? The ploy was simple; he wedged open the door. By taking students that other colleges did not want, Roberts had filled his dormi tories and classrooms Then he built some more and filled them. And more. Played straight, of course, the num bers game is inevitably a loser’s game. Unless you set up the percentage in favor of the house. Roberts, picking up the hackneyed argument that one good professor is worth 10 mediocre instruc tors, hired one professor in stead of 10 instructors. In order to get that professor to teach 800 students instead of 80, Roberts gave him a micro phone, an auditorium, a sala ry of $25,000, and a team 40 Panorama composed (according to the fluctuating prosperity of the college) of from one to three preceptors, that is, MA-qualified instructors who on Tuesday and Thursday re hashed with the students (or at least some of them) in smaller discussion groups the material presented on MWF by the oracle at the far end of the auditorium. The team also included from one to three tutors (chiefly recent Parsons BAs, mostly wives), who were available for indi vidual assistance to the stu dent. To my observation, they did not handle very much trade after the first few weeks of the semester. That, in essence, has been the Parsons Plan. For the price of the average hightuition^ private college, the students who enrolled for this sort of instruction lived in gimcrack, grade-school-mo dern accommodations, and generally made money for the college as consumers in the dining halls, bowling alley, coffee shop, and so forth. How could it miss? In April 1967, the North Central Association revoked the accreditation of Parsons | In May, the faculty by a vote of 102-58 approved a re solution asking the board of trustees to fire President Ro berts immediately. One of the airhammer truths vibrating on the Par sons campus is that the col lege represents the educa tional pattern of the future. In some ways, Roberts has been too successful as a sales man; the faculty has bought the Parsons Plan if not the man. The basic ingredient of the Parsons Plan is simply effi ciency. Running the physical plant 12 months a year (re quiring all students who have anything below a 2.0 GPA to attend the summer trimester). An incredibly high student faculty ratio. The cutting of building costs to the lowest possible level. The extensive use of mass-handling gadget ry. The retention of a speci men scholar-in-residence, a nationally famous accounting firm, a Madison Avenue pub lic relations firm, a Chicago law firm. A private plane and pilot in constant use by the college president. Above all, the enthusiastic cry of “an open mind” to improvement, April 1968 41 as manifested by a necessity to try everything — for at least a week at a time. Up to June 26, 1967, the authority for all action in the college was Millard Roberts, a genial fellow, a twinkier, a man who worships success. His attendants in the courts of administration were clearly subordinate to him but supe rior to the teaching faculty. In general, the faculty has had little part in running the college. While it is blandlyasserted that the professors have full authority in the classroom, they are explicitly directed not to flunk a stu dent on the basis of absence. The result is that professors are put in the position of of fering what amounts to a Dlevel course to some students of A- or B-level capacity, and of flunking others who would be perfectly competent to pass the course under normal required-attendance policy. Accommodation of the stu dent has been all-important; otherwise he might have been scared away, and the college needed him: He pays all the bills. Parsons has admit tedly and proudly operated “98 percent” on student fees. For the past few years, the college has, it would seem, been constantly one step from financial crisis and one step from the heights of fortune, whistling cheerily but inward ly aghast that some Septem ber they wouldn’t show up. In the spring of 1967, the decision of North Central to drop Parsons from its list of accredited colleges apparent ly was the needle in the bub ble. At first the action was judged by Parsons apologists — among them, the suddenly naked faculty — to be a con certed attack by the NCA have-nots, the enemies of the college who resented its suc cess. But Roberts’ free wheeling style had left the field behind him littered with bruised and vengeful victims. Several professors had, the year before, been deceived by ringers — attorneys sup posedly representing the trustees, on campus to under take a clandestine investiga tion of alleged abuses of Ro berts — who proved to be Roberts’ men and who promptly reported to him all the complaints gathered in their interviews. This was but one grievance. Almost 42 Panorama everyone resented the presi dent’s apparent indifference to the educational process it self — that is, what really happened to these kids after they were lured through that open door. Now, with the loss of ac creditation, every professor on campus had one more sore point to chafe him; it was not long before Roberts’ foes gathered in coalition. Spear-heading the attack was the Professional Problems Committee, an embryonic faculty council that had been slighted and even insulted by “Doc Bob.” One evening while Roberts was boasting in Pittsburgh about the col lege’s success as a profitable business, the faculty gathered. By a two-to-one vote, the faculty asked that the board of trustees suspend the presi dent. The following weeks, while members of the faculty at tempted to convince the board, were marked by rest lessness. Students absences increased markedly. Catalogs from other colleges weighted down the incoming mailbags. It was almost morbidly fasci nating — to watch an organ ism as complex as a college, made up of some 6,000 peo ple, slowly growing mori bund. Then the board of trustees did just the wrong thing. The chairman went to the North Central Committee with the resignation of Ro berts, contingent on the im mediate reaccreditation of Parsons. But in the position of being offered a head, NCA had to deny the appeal. Two days later, on June 26, 1967, the board voted unani mously to file an injunction against North Central’s revo cation. Then, in a split deci sion, they fired Millard Ro berts and appointed his chief lieutenant, the vice-president for academic affairs, as act ing president. Less than two months later, on August 16, the board abolished the exist ing administrative structure of the college in toto and named a chemistry professor as chief administrative officer. Where now? The faculty and staff were required to volunteer to take a salary de ferment of from 5 to 25 per cent. The fall enrolment would inevitably be a frac tion of that of 1966-67. Par April 1968 43 sons’ coffers were empty of all but IOUs. The faculty, particularly by past Parsons standards, was far in excess of the projected need. It seemed that the old Parsons College — the Parsons that had flared through the aca demic world for a brief sea son like a riverboat gambler at a debutante cotillion — was dead. What Parsons has been would seem to have been re futed, both by the North Central Association and by its own faculty. Of course, even, if only a third of that faculty remains, it can be the nucleus for a good, small col lege of the rural midwestern variety. .Whether the admi nistration will accept that de ceptively modest aim remains to be seen. The alternative could be complete disrepute, an academic junk pile for the intellectually halt, lame, and blind. Is it really, possible to run successfully a second-chance college on anything resem bling the Parsons Plan? The answer, I think, is a timid yes. The open door is per fectly justified — but the exit door must be open, also. The students are not the same as at other colleges. The good Parsons student is apt to be a bright, erratic one; the poor student is a mixed-up kid who’s not very bright, hates school, and should in mercy be flunked out without need less suffering. The weakest feature of the Parsons Plan is the adminis trative apparatus, which was designed not only to recruit the student; but to keep him in the college after he arrives, regardless of his academic achievement. A secondchance college is valid only for the student who wants that chance: it is only his parents who want him to have it, the second or third or fourth chance will only be another opporutnity to dup licate the failure of the first one^ The second-chance college, then, should be a place not of permissiveness but of ri gorous discipline with respect to standards of achievement, offering even firmer guide lines than those under which such students failed to achieve self-discipline earlier. The core courses should be 44 Panorama luxury devotes much of its energy. Group discussion sections should not be a re medial program for those who routinely cut the lectures and do not bother to read the material. The discussions should be the digestive sys tem of the course. Tutors with no authority to compel students to keep appoint ments will inevitably end up playing pinochle among themselves. Yes, after a year at Parsons, even after a year at Par sons, I do believe in a secondchance college. But the col lege I believe in does not yet exist, and will only appear as the result of honesty, hu mility, idealism, and a deep belief in the value of knowl edge itself. It will have to be a better college than the "first-chance” ones. — Robert G. Collins in The Journal of Higher Education. OUR GOAL . . . (Continued from page 39) week ago: "No Country and no man ever stands as tall as when he falls on his knees before God.” — Thurgood Marshall, Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, speech before the Philippine Constitution Association. April 1968 45 LANGUAGE PROBLEM We still have a language problem in this country; one which requires direction in our usage and in our educa tional system. Conflict of Pilipino and English should be faced squarely. We recall that about a year ago, an American teacher who had taught some years in this country stated that he ob served a decline in the mas tery of the English language among Filipino pupils over the years. He sought answers to the question of language in this country, particularly with writers, and inquired about the fate of English in this; country in the near fu ture. The conference discus sion was filled with slogans and witticisms but no one seemed to want to tackle the problem squarely. What is the future of the English lan guage here and what is the future of the Pilipino? Says George M. Guthrie in a published research report, “The Filipino Child and Philippine Society”: “The effect of the multi-lingual situation on the child is un known. We can speculate, with some supporting evid ence, that it leaves him with no well developed vocabulary in any language. This is a severe impediment to intellec tual growth in all spheres... Switching from one language to another means that the child will have great diffi culty reading more than the most elementary materials in each of the languages to which he is exposed. Al though he may be quite fluent in the vernacular the dearth of reading materials in his own tongue stunts his voca bulary growth. Even more important may be the effect of switching back and forth from English to a Philippine language such as Tagalog. These two languages have different words and have also different linguistic struc tures ...” “Recent studies on the use of the vernacular in the early grades have indicated that 46 Panorama children progress more rapid ly when taught in the verna cular. Much more work needs to be done in this area. We may speculate that the more the vernacular is used in elementary school instruc tion, the higher will be the performance of the pupil. This would be enhanced by an increasing volume of children’s literature in the vernacular. At the same time children’s literature in En glish would also increase in tellectual stimulation.” What we often forget is that any solution to the lan guage problem will take timei The element of time will be the only vindication or death of Pilipirio. At present mosjt of our writers were trained in English; this explains the dearth of both Pilipino writ ers and Pilipino readers. Perhaps the coming genera tions will slowly master Pili pino and begin to write in this language. It took an in tensive 48 years for English to subdue Spanish as the lan guage of the literate Filipino, and this was with the accom paniment of material and so cial attractions for the En glish-speaking generation. It will take time for a substan tial Pilipino literature to ap pear. The one key point is in the educational system and in children’s books. With a healthy group of Pilipino readers, there will arise the writers. However, it seems in this modern era impossible to conceive of our-ever aban doning English or the little Spanish we have, for that mat ter. — by A. R. Roces April 1968 47 Republic of the Philippines Department of Public Works and Communications BUREAU OF POSTS Manila SWORN STATEMENT (Required by Act 2580) The undersigned, APOL B. DE LA PENA, managing editor of PANORAMA published Once a Month in English at Manila, after having been duly sworn in accordance with law, hereby submits the following statement of ownership, management, circulation, etc., which is required by Act 2580, as amended by Commonwealth Act No. 201. Name Address Editor: ARTURO G. SINCO .... 2131 Dr. M. Carreon, Sta. Ana, Manila Managing Editor: APOL DE LA PENA ................ 2131 Dr. M. Carreon, Sta. Ana, Manila Business Manager: ARTURO G. SINCO .................................... 2131 Dr. M. Carreon, Sta. Ana, Manila Owner: COMMUNITY PUBLISHERS, INC.....................2131 Dr. M. Carreon, Sta. Ana, Manila Publisher: — do — — do — Prnter: — do — — do — Office of Publication: —do— —do — If publication is owned by a corporation, stockholders owning one per cent or more of the total amount of stocks: V. G. Sinco, Sofia S. Sinco, Arturo G._ Sinco, Leandro G. Sinco & Sylvia Sinco-Dichoso — 2131 Dr. M. Carreon, Manila. In case of publication other than daily, total number of copies printed and circulated of the last issue dated February, 1968: 1. Sent to paid subscribers .............................................. 2,500 2. Sent to others than paid subscribers .......................... 1,000 T o t a 1 ................................................. 3,500 APOL B. DE LA PENA Managing Editor SUBSCRIBED AND SWORN to before me this 3rd day of April, 1968, at Manila, the affiant exhibiting his Residence Certificate No. A-209131 issued at Manila on January 12, 1968. ANASTACIO C. RAMOS Postal Inspector NOTE: This form is exempt from the payment of documentary stamp tax. Panorama Reading Association PANORAMA invites the educated public to join its Association of Readers. PANORAMA READING ASSOCIATION is dedicated to men and women who appreciate the variety and quality of its articles as sources of liberal ideas. PANORAMA READING ASSOCIATION includes stu dents, businessmen, professionals, proprietors, employers, and employees. It is also open to clubs, schools, and other ac credited organizations. PANORAMA has been in existence for over Thirty Years. PANORAMA provides excellent material for classes in history, government, economics, political and social studies, lite rature, and science. It may be adopted for secondary and college use. PANORAMA is not a fly-by-night publication. It was bom in March, 1936. COMMUNITY PUBLISHERS, INC. Inverness, (M. Carreon) St., Sta. Ana, Manila, Philippines Contents For a Life-long Education ............................................... 1 National Integration of Adult Education ..................... 2 Broader Horizons for the Barrio People ...................... 10 Bullets, Violence ................................................................... 16 Billions for Philippine Education .................................... 18 Do Teachers Talk Too Much? ......................................... 29 OUr Goal: World Peace Through Law ...................... 33 The Parson College Experience ....................................... 40 Language Problem ............................................................... 46 Cover Photo: CENTRAL SAVINGS & LOAN ASSOCIATE)? Dumaguete City